Woman pleads no contest to negligent homicide

JENNIFER BRANCH

Published 7:00 pm, Monday, June 4, 2007

Talisha Kendrick, 40, called Pasadena law enforcement officials Oct. 14 in a panic, explaining that her quadriplegic mother's ventilator had somehow been disconnected and that Brenda Leveratt, 60, was not breathing. A surgery to remedy rheumatoid arthritis in June of 2005 had left Leveratt paralyzed, and Kendrick had been the singular caregiver to her mother for a solid year-and-a-half.

"The victim could only wiggle her toes and some of her fingers and was unable to talk," Corbett said in a previous interview. "She communicated through clicking noises and various utterances like that."

Authorities believed that the continued stress of taking care of her invalid mother led to a gradually worsened relationship between Kendrick and her husband.

Kendrick, however, took exception to those accusations, according to her attorneys Skip Lanz and Chad Bradshaw.

"Ms. Kendrick would never let an argument with her husband get in between her relationship with her mother. She wants everyone to know that she loved her mother very much, and had a very strong bond with her. (Ms. Kendrick) took care of her for 15 solid months with little or no help from anyone; she loved her," said Lanz.

According to Pasadena Police Department officials, hours before Leveratt's death, Kendrick's husband informed her that he had intentions to leave the residence and the marriage.

An investigation with Kendrick led police to understand that the ventilator had to be manually disconnected and that Leveratt's daughter was the only other person in the home, though Kendrick explained that she was not in the room when the incident occurred.

"Her husband didn't fully support her, it's outrageous to think that she would have any kind of intentional role in her mother's death because of it," said Lanz.

When initially placing the call, Kendrick explained to 9-1-1 dispatchers that she had been upstairs on the computer and that the door had been closed because she was smoking.

She was initially charged with murder in the 337th district court and posted a $30,000 bond, but the charge was later lessened to negligent homicide.

"She has maintained her innocence in the case all along.

The fact that the state has reduced the charges from first-degree murder to negligent homicide clearly shows that they knew she had no intentional role in the death of her mother," said Lanz. "Obviously, she hasn't even had time to grieve over her mother's death because of having to defend the outrageous charges."

According to Lanz, Kendrick hopes to begin an outreach program for caregivers.

"She wants to help individuals who are caretaking, it can be very overwhelming," he said.